After her explosive tournament at the Scenery Park community hall in East London in 2024, promoter Monica Goci has vowed to up the ante when she returns to the venue with another potentially thrilling event on April 5.
Goci, who trades under Ola GMM Promotions, was one of two women promoters selected to organise the Eastern Cape leg of the Women In Boxing series shows together with Mbali Zantsi, who staged her tournament in Gqeberha.
Goci’s tournament in March 2024 saw provincial female junior-flyweight champion Sibabalwe Gwebityala eking out a thrilling points victory over Zizo Skoti to record her third win in as many bouts.
Taking the event to Scenery Park proved to be a masterstroke as the area had been starved of boxing activity for a long time despite producing some of the best fighters in the region.
Emboldened by the vociferous crowd that turned up last time round, Goci decided to return to the area to stage a tasty clash between Gwebityala and rising star Okuhle Mthi for Gwebityala’s title defence.
“I was encouraged by the attendance in my last tournament, so I decided to return there to thank the community for its support,” she said.
“And what a better way than to give them this exciting clash between these two lasses who are sure to produce fireworks.”
The bout will pit two unbeaten boxers against each other, with Mthi’s stunning upset over SA champion Nozwelethu Mathontsi in her last bout in December making her the favourite.
Despite taking the fight at short notice, Mthi set a frenetic pace to beat Mathontsi to the punch and run out a clear winner despite one of the judges inexplicably scoring the bout in Mathontsi’s favour.
The fact that Mathontsi’s SA title was not at stake was a bit of a downer, but Mthi was not concerned about contesting for a lesser title when she could have been a national champion.
“Our goal is to take Mathontsi’s title, but we do not mind starting at the bottom and [taking] the provincial belt first,” Mthi’s manager, Andile Mshumpela, said.
Unbeaten in five bouts with two draws, Mthi will probably meet her match in Gwebityala, whose incessant punching style is set to produce one of the most action-packed women’s boxing matches in a long time.
The show will feature only women’s bouts in line with the criteria for the series.
Skoti, who is fresh from a points loss to Owethu Rula in a provincial flyweight title challenge two weeks ago, will be back in action against Mathontsi in one of the undercard bouts.
Daily Dispatch
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